


Salvage

by viascos



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Aftermath, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-01-04 06:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viascos/pseuds/viascos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events that transpire at the granary, Yayoi needs to pull what is left of the mission back from the edge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salvage

The surveillance cameras tell the truth but she refuses to believe until she sees with her own eyes.

Yayoi finds him in the cargo bay under the shadow of the towering row of crates, a section of which is crushed to smithereens and blown out into a pile of smoldering rubble. Her throat tightens just a little bit at the blood on the concrete, the charred remains of a tan trench coat; the Dominator blown to bits in what could only have been a contained explosion.

Akane and Kougami are gone, in pursuit of the madman who somehow managed to still call down destruction despite being outnumbered one to five. No, four. Their safe return is no guarantee and Yayoi has no choice but to stay where she is for now and pick up the pieces.

It is a daunting task, seeing as her hands are shaking against her will and he is hunched over the body, unresponsive. He doesn’t move when she touches his shoulder. Masaoka’s eyes are still open and she swallows hard, for a moment taking in the tired green irises that had always fixed on her with fondness, the crow’s feet, and the gentle laugh lines. She can hear him still.

“That’s my girl, hard as nails and as sharp as ever.”

Yayoi grits her teeth. Falling apart now is not an option, not with a superior hopelessly compromised. She slides her hand over the open eyelids then wraps a firm hand around Ginoza’s upper arm. He is clenching, white-knuckled, to the ruined fabric of his father’s coat.

“Get up, Ginoza-san, we can’t leave him here.”

He lets her lift him and for a moment drifts back to lucidity. His eyes flick up to hers and they’re the same ones she just pressed closed. Wide and bloodshot and bruised all around, but the same eyes. They stare at each other for just an instant before he lets out a strangled gasp and curls into himself, locking his right arm around his waist and she notices. The other arm dangles against his side unnaturally and the fabric of his jacket that wraps it is crushed and matted. At every slight movement he makes, it shifts with a hideous wet noise and more blood trickles out of his sleeve.

“Oh, god...” His voice is raw and he sags against her, dangerously close to unconsciousness.

“Tell me what happened.” He shudders and she quickly clarifies. “To your arm, what happened to your arm?”

“Dislocated, had to tear it out.” His head jerks toward the destroyed crates. There’s blood there too, and a shattered pair of glasses. “Had to…he wouldn’t listen…”

His arm is much more than dislocated. The clothing obscures the most of it, making it hard to get a clear assessment of the damage, but it looks crushed and somehow Yayoi knows in the pit of her stomach that it is irreparable. Ginoza’s muttering trails off, gaze drifting down again.

“Why wouldn’t he listen?”

“I need you to pull it together.” Her words are severe, but they have to salvage what little order is left of this operation and she is the only one currently capable of doing it. With a flick at her wrist communicator a summons is sent to the medical drone in the shuttle. “Med evac is on its way, can you stand on your own?”

“No, no I don’t think so.” It comes out as a barely audible whisper, and then Ginoza is sinking down again. He wraps his legs beneath himself and takes the coat back into his fist. He looks calmer now, face dazed under the curtain of dark hair, stare fixed on the empty space where his father’s left half should be. Shock is setting in, but the pain of crushed bones will return and Yayoi has zero intention to stick around in this cavernous death trap waiting.

She takes a few strides away and calls up her screen again, this time punching in the code for Akane. No response. Something flutters in her stomach, something like despair, before she clenches down on it. Not now, stay focused, stay clear. If they get to the shuttle they’ll be safe and in a position to find the others. Behind her, Ginoza slumps into a heap on the concrete, mercifully losing consciousness and the med drone roars through the loading dock.

The drone is large enough to carry two and with the combined efforts of her and the mechanical arm, both bodies are secured. Masaoka is swathed with a tarp covering procured from one of the drone’s many compartments and Yayoi lets out a short sigh. When his body is covered she can pretend it is anything but him.

She has no idea where to start with first aid on Ginoza, so she settles on avoiding jostling the ruined appendage. She sees no other outcome; he will lose the limb.

Yayoi jogs beside the drone and watches Ginoza’s face closely as they whisk into the lift and start to rise. At each bump or jolt from the less than pristine cables, his brow furrows and he starts to shift under the restraints with a low groan. Without thinking, she touches his uninjured arm at the wrist to hold him steady.

They reach the shuttle without further incident and only once the drone is loaded and Yayoi is standing with her hands on the control panel does she breathe a sigh of relief.

Like a miracle, the communicator at her wrist springs to life.

“ _Houn—_ “

“Tsunemori!” She barely thinks to chide herself for the breach of formality and Akane of course makes no comment.

“ _Request for immediate evac, east façade of the granary_ ”

“Shepherd, what happened, we lost you for a while there.”

“ _My…apologies. We pursued and contact was temporarily severed. Makishima is dead.”_

Her chest tenses. That meant…

 “Understood. Stay where you are, we’ll pick you up with the chopper. Is Kougami alright?”

Dead air for a full ten seconds.

“ _Kougami is AWOL. Regroup in ten._ ”

There it is. Akane could not stop him. _They_ could not stop him. Yayoi bites the inside of her mouth, but knows better than to ask questions right at this moment. Akane signs off without another word. With a tap at her communicator, her side of the transmission is terminated and she looks toward Ginoza on instinct.

His eyes are open. 


End file.
